Hotel "fines" bad review couple

[melmerby]

Hi all

 

Spotted this on the news:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30100973

 

Not what I would have thought was the way to increase business!

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

[Fat Controller]

The spirit of Basil Fawlty is alive after all..

[pete_mcfarlane]

Have a look at their reviews on Trip Advisor - at £100 a bad review, they must be raking it in!

 

The spirit of Basil Fawlty is alive after all..

Despite Basil's strange ideas, Fawlty Towers didn't seem like that bad a hotel in the grand scheme of things. 

[Steve Williams]

I can't believe this is legal at all, written in their T&Cs or not.

[pointstaken]

One report said that  Trading Standards were looking at the legality of it. I would think that the collective bad publicity would not be beneficial to their trade either.

 

Dennis 

[Guest]

Those hotel people do not understand the internet.

 

However these restaurant people do understand the internet.

[beast66606]

It's very difficult as people now threaten hotels with bad reviews unless they get discount (quoted on the BBC this morning) - including prior to actually arriving, so perhaps having that in reserve is prudent but if the guests complained to the team whilst there (as in this case) then it's very dodgy taking a £100 fine.

[Guest]

Seems they've stopped charging the 'fines' now.

That's assuming they're still in business after spending the day on the front page of the BBC news website....

[Pacific231G]

I've just read the report. Basically, the message the hotel is sending is that they know they're not up to scratch but would like to prevent any potential guests from finding that out until it's too late. Most people who use trip advisor are perfectly capable of balancing negative and positive reports so a good business should have nothing to fear from the occasional negative comment (and there is a right of reply) . 

 

Since the couple say they "found" the surcharge on their credit card it's clear that the hotel didn't inform them that they were making this charge and I wonder if this may be a way of levying extra income from guests.

 

I had a case once where I found that a hotel in Edinburgh booked by my employer had charged my credit card when I knew I'd not used any additional facilities. When I queried it they said it was for the bar of chocolate I'd had from the minibar. Since I knew that I'd not even opened the minibar and nobody else had been in my room I challenged this and they immediately refunded my card but I do wonder how much extra revenue or making up of losses from staff taking things is being taken by hotels from clients in this way.

 

The practice where a hotel can make a charge on a credit card long after the guest has departed is wide open to abuse. I know that breakages and losses may not be apparent until the room is serviced but charges on the card should at least be limited to the day of departure. In any case is it not in fact illegal to hold credit card details once a transaction has been completed?

 

It is worth looking up the Broadway Hotel on Trip Adviser http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186332-d554701-Reviews-Broadway_Hotel-Blackpool_Lancashire_England.html#photos but perhaps not while eating.

[pete_mcfarlane]

I've just read the report. Basically, the message the hotel is sending is that they know they're not up to scratch but would like to prevent any potential guests from finding that out until it's too late. Most people who use trip advisor are perfectly capable of balancing negative and positive reports so a good business should have nothing to fear from the occasional negative comment (and there is a right of reply) . 

I once stayed in a rather nice hotel in Rye, which had some very mixed reviews. A lot of negative comments about how the 16th century building didn't have any lifts, had creaky floor boards etc. So you can see how hotels do suffer from unfair reviews. But it's fairly easy to spot the terrible hotels on there. 

 

 

It is worth looking up the Broadway Hotel on Trip Adviser http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186332-d554701-Reviews-Broadway_Hotel-Blackpool_Lancashire_England.html#photos but perhaps not while eating.

According to Booking.com the hotel is 'popular now! 55 people looking at this hotel'. I wonder why?

 

You can get a single room there for £27 a night, which does suggest that a) it's probably not going to be the best hotel and b) they're probably not making enough money to keep the hotel in a decent state of repair. 

[Horsetan]

The media attention did have its desired effect:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-30111525

 

I wonder if the couple will get their £100 back, though.

 

.....The practice where a hotel can make a charge on a credit card long after the guest has departed is wide open to abuse. I know that breakages and losses may not be apparent until the room is serviced but charges on the card should at least be limited to the day of departure. In any case is it not in fact illegal to hold credit card details once a transaction has been completed?.....

It occurs to me that, if they had settled their hotel bill in cash, rather than leave credit card details, the hotel would not have been able to make free later with spurious charges.

[melmerby]

They aren't charging much more in that Hotel in Blackpool than what we were charging in our Guest House in the Lake District some years ago (and were not that expensive!)

 

I wouldn't expect too much at their prices.

Blackpool didn't have a particularly good reputation for quality amongst fellow hoteliers back then!

 

Keith

[Red Devil]

 

I wonder if the couple will get their £100 back, though.

 

It occurs to me that, if they had settled their hotel bill in cash, rather than leave credit card details, the hotel would not have been able to make free later with spurious charges.

If they'd made the booking through a website then they would have had their card details even if they'd settled with cash. Quite often hotels will charge for the room on the card used to make the booking on the day of arrival particularly for one night stays it seems.

[Guest]

I love this comment on the TripAdvisor page

 

Hi! I was wondering if I should setup a negative review fining system for my hotel like you've done.

Do you feel the overwealimingly negative press has helped, or hampered your booking prospects?

[Oldddudders]

I love this comment on the TripAdvisor page

All publicity is good publicity, allegedly.

[melmerby]

 

I wonder if the couple will get their £100 back, though.

 

It occurs to me that, if they had settled their hotel bill in cash, rather than leave credit card details, the hotel would not have been able to make free later with spurious charges.

 

The hotel has now removed it's £100 surcharge condition according to reports.

 

All publicity is good publicity, allegedly.

 

Maybe bad publicity wasn't so good after all

 

Keith

[bike2steam]

That's it then - I'm gonna start fining businesses for bad service !!! And it'll be a fortune from Social Services.

[4630]

That's it then - I'm gonna start fining businesses for bad service !!! 

 

There is a grain of truth in that.

 

I successfully 'fined' my bank last year when they sent me a relevant but misleading piece of direct mail that led to me wasting my time contacting them.

 

As I'm self-employed and wanted to make a point to them about wasting their customers time, I billed them for a nominal amount of my time to sort out an issue on my account of their own making.  I was more than a little surprised to receive a cheque from them a few days later.  The sum billed was immaterial compared to the satisfaction of actually getting some money out of the b*ggers.  

[antrobuscp]

It is possible to gain recovery of costs incurred through bad service - even with HMRC. A few years ago now, I represented, through my firm, my son who was involved in a long running saga with the Tax Credit office. In the end, they offered to pay my additional time costs billed to and paid by my son. We chose not to do so - It would have taken some time to evaluate just how much additional work was caused by HMRC issues as against other issues in the case and I wasn't going to charge anyway, but the offer was made.

[APOLLO]

Anyway, about Hornby's new (insert locomotive type).

 

FANTASTIC !!!!!!!!!!

 

Phew, credit card safe.

 

Brit15

[Chameleon]

I can understand the hotel discouraging spurious negative reviews but if the place is genuinely naff then they are censoring honest free speech. I always shave off the top and bottom scores and read what is in between. Its usually pretty accurate. You need to take trip advisor with a large pinch of salt.

[station cat]

I can understand the hotel discouraging spurious negative reviews but if the place is genuinely naff then they are censoring honest free speech. I always shave off the top and bottom scores and read what is in between. Its usually pretty accurate. You need to take trip advisor with a large pinch of salt.

 

 

I once stayed in a rather nice hotel in Rye, which had some very mixed reviews. A lot of negative comments about how the 16th century building didn't have any lifts, had creaky floor boards etc. So you can see how hotels do suffer from unfair reviews. But it's fairly easy to spot the terrible hotels on there. 

 

 

I agree with both of these posts. Trip advisor is pretty good once you learn to spot the reviews by idiots. Personally I read the very bad reviews first to see what the complaints actually are and if it's stuff like no lift I then read the good ones. It's also important to read the dates on reviews as places do get better or worse over time

[roundhouse]

It's also worth noting the type of reviewer for instance do a mature couple rate the hotel as noisy a young solo traveller rate the bar as excellent. OK it might be categorising people but it can also help understand the type of environment you might end up staying in.

We have also found that sometimes you get room upgrades free when using a hotel booking website as the hotel may think that they will get a better review. We also try to give a balanced review rather than making comments such not liking the curtains or something so trivial.

[yorkie_pudd]

This doesn't surprise me at all these day`s as anyone can make their own terms & conditions no matter how daft it looks, only to use it against folk to get money out of them for nothing.  Similar to this is insurance company quotes you want the best  deal etc, but some now are taking quotes as a contract trade of business with them. Normally quotes lapse after 30 days but now probably because you found a better quote deal elsewhere and took that offer. Companies once the quote has lapsed after the 30 days are sending out invoices for insurance policy and if you ignore they follow up with bailiff and court proceedings against you.

 

Needless to say that trading standards and the fraud office are going to get very busy in the near future, as more of this terms / conditions charging fee`s for nothing become more widespread. As they say who cares as long as profits are made

[newbryford]

I agree with both of these posts. Trip advisor is pretty good once you learn to spot the reviews by idiots.

 

Problem is that the idiots read them and then post up even more idiot reviews.

 

My in-laws run a 3* hotel and I often have to bear the brunt of my wife coming home with reports of trip advisor anger............ Although I obviously only hear her side of the story, I have been present at the hotel when a guest has "complained" about a room with noisy guests in bedrooms and corridors around them to find out that they are all from the same wedding party and close relatives........

 

 

Cheers,

Mick